Since the S&P 500 (chart) made an intra-day low of 1075 on October 4th, this bellwether index has gained a staggering 13.95% to close at 1224.58 in just 10 days. That’s no typo. The three other key indices also had significant runs especially the small-cap index Russell 2000 (chart) gaining a breathtaking 18.4% since October 4th. In the past 10 days the Dow Jones Industrial Average (chart) has also tacked on almost 12% and the Nasdaq (chart) concurred with a 16%+ gain as well.

Interestingly enough this range bound market over the past 2 1/2 months (blog) now finds itself on the cusp of breaking out of the upper bands of its range. Market technicians are looking at the 1225 zone of the S&P 500 as the breakout level and that’s where it closed yesterday. We are full steam ahead into earnings reporting season with the likes of Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL), International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) and General Electric (NYSE: GE) all reporting their earnings next week,  just to name a few.

Q3 earnings results just may be the catalyst to push these markets through their upper level resistance zones. However, if overall the earnings reporting season doesn’t impress, we could easily find ourselves back in the middle or the lower end of this persistent trading range. Good luck to everyone.

Have a great weekend 🙂

~George